Contrast between ideals and madness

Britain's gold medalists at Rio are unlikely to come close to the staggering salary offered to Manchester United recruit Pogba

It happens every four years. Just as my mind gets adjusted to the bizarre world of the English Premier League football season and its dizzying approach to transfer fees and television rights, along comes the Olympic Games, with its stories of victories against the odds and a distinct lack of bling.

Manchester United's latest signing, Paul Pogba, is a case in point. I have nothing against the fellow; he's a talented player.

The France international, complete with obligatory bizarre haircut and glitzy taste in motor cars, was released by United - my favorite club since I was a kid - in 2011 on a free transfer after building an impressive reputation in the club's youth and academy teams.

Now comes the scary bit.

United has just paid - are you sitting down? - a staggering 105 million euros ($117 million), plus a 5 million euro bonus, for him to rejoin a club that his former manager there, the eminently down-to-earth Alex Ferguson, accused him of disrespecting when he left to join Juventus in 2011.

You can't blame Pogba for taking the money, and in current manager Jose Mourinho, the Red Devils have what they wanted since Ferguson retired - a manager with a golden touch who wants to win.

Just when, as a sports fan, you've got your head around the money, then along come the likes of Laura Trott, Jason Kenny and the entire British woman's hockey team, to name but a few.

Those kids, and they are kids, worked up a fairy tale in Rio de Janeiro in the Olympic gold medals department. Fair enough, I hear you say, they are professionals after all.

Here's the crunch. Pogba, a talented footballer, is paid an unbelievable 220,000 pounds ($287,000; 258,000 euros) a week.

Trott and Kenny, dedicated cyclists 24/7, get about 24,000 pounds a year, funded mainly by National Lottery money, which has been pumped into Britain's Olympic efforts over the past four years or more.

Obviously, they stand to get income from endorsements, but they're never going to get anywhere near Pogba's income.

No doubt the Frenchman will get the usual megabucks trappings of a football superstar, in his case including a huge, in-your-face American muscle car.

Meanwhile, chez Trotter, she and her fiance Jason Kenny, who have an impressive 10 gold medals from two Olympics to hang on the wall, are planning their honeymoon - a camping holiday with their dogs in Britain.

But here's the effect it has on the Peterson household.

My wife and I have been avid Olympic watchers, entranced as much by the complex scoring system in the omnium cycling as the elaborate rituals in horse dressage.

Oh, and hats off here to British rider Nick Skelton, at 58 the oldest gold medal winner at the Rio Games. As I'm the proud possessor of a dodgy arthritic knee, the fact that Skelton needed a ladder to get on his horse because of a hip replacement and a stiff back means he wins my vote.

By the way, he's a mere 43 years older than the youngest Rio Games gold medalist, China's Ren Qian.

So, as happens every four years, my wife and I look at each other and say, "I don't think I can watch any overpaid histrionics from the English Premier League quite yet."

The Olympics are simply in a different league.

The author is a managing editor of China Daily European Bureau. Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/02/2016 page11)